The Spanish government last night said it would respect any decision taken by Britain over General Augusto Pinochet and made it plain that it would not push for his extradition to Spain from Britain to go ahead if the home secretary decided to send him back to Chile.

"The government has been informed that Mr Straw is considering the possibility of interrupting the judicial process," said a statement issued by the Spanish foreign ministry late last night.

"We recognise that decision is based on medial reports according to which the general is not fit to stand trial because of bad health.

"The government has respected the judicial decisions taken since the start of this process and stresses its intention to show the same respect for any decision now taken by Jack Straw who, under British law, has jurisdiction in the case."

A foreign ministry spokesman added that all the parties involved in the case had been given a period of seven days in which to voice their opinions but he stressed that the Spanish government would not be making any legal representation.

A source at Madrid's high court said that the British decision would be difficult to challenge.

"If it is a health problem, there are no legal or procedural arguments that can be made."

Spain's centre-right government had backed an extradition request put forward by the investigating magistrate in the case, Baltazar Garzon, but ministers made it plain, in private, that they did not want to see Gen Pinochet tried in their country.

State prosecutors tried to find loopholes in the judge's case while Spain's foreign min ister tried to repair relations with Chile and several other Latin American countries, strained to breaking point by what they saw as unjustified interference from the former colonial power.

The issue also divided the Spanish left. The Socialist party was strongly in favour of trying the general but a former prime minister, Felipe Gonzalez, said it was not appropriate for a country which had handled its own transition to democracy by blocking out the past to interfere in the Chilean process.

Lawyers representing victims of Gen Pinochet's regime, who pushed to bring a case against him, said last night that they needed to study the reports from London before deciding on their next move.

But Spanish legal experts said it was unlikely that Mr Garzon could prevent Gen Pinochet being sent back to Chile if the Spanish government was unwilling to press its extradition bid.

Joan Garces - a lawyer and former aide to late Chilean president Salvador Allende - who worked for years to build a case against the general, has insisted that he is not involved in a vendetta and that, morally, Gen Pinochet has already been condemned.

But he also stressed that with several international detention orders outstanding, Gen Pinochet would remain a fugitive from international justice even if he returned to Chile as a free man.

Carlos Seploy, another lawyer who is representing Pinochet victims, denounced a possible decision to send him back to Chile as "a very grave error".

"History will recount that the British government allowed Pinochet to return to Chile and remain immune," he said.

His colleague Enrique Santiago added that they would ask the national court, which brought the case against the general in Spain, to request another round of medical tests be carried out on the general in Britain.

"It is not appropriate or just for Gen Pinochet to return to Chile without appearing before the Spanish courts which should decide whether he is guilty or innocent," he said.

An Argentinian human rights lawyer, Carlos Slepoy, who aided the Spanish investigation of Gen Pinochet, said that the reported health problems should not lead to his release.

Proceedings should be suspended but the general should remain held under house arrest until his condition improves, Mr Slepoy said.

"What justice demands is that Pinochet be tried. He is accused of horrible crimes."

Mr Garzon's request for Gen Pinochet to be extradited on charges of murder, genocide and torture dating from 1973 to 1990 received official backing from the Spanish government in November 1998.

After two controversial hearings the British law lords limited the period for which he could be tried, saying he had immunity until 1998, severely weakening Mr Garzon's case.

Mr Garzon was not available for comment last night.

Switzerland and France have also put in extradition requests and legal moves against the general have begun in Belgium, Denmark and Sweden.